Thoughts for 2019

As we enter 2019, we seem to be carrying forward into a new year all the uncertainties of 2018, with Brexit impacting Europe, US presidential policies causing unease and uncertainty, and trade with China looking problematical. How in this environment can marketeers and communications experts plan to maximize the impact and value of their efforts to help their businesses grow, and sell more in this complex and changing global marketplace?

One key element is to remember that standing out from the crowd and creating news and content your customers are interested in will make what you do more ‘sticky’ and effective with your target audiences. Secondly, identify who the key influencers are for your product or service, these will often have more impact on your target base than general content generated for dissemination via social media or owned web assets.

Although the media is changing, there are healthy online press footprints in almost every market, reporters may now publish online, rather than on paper, bloggers and vloggers may now be as influential for certain sectors, but these influencers remain critical targets for your PR and communication efforts.

In specialist markets, like B2B technology, the analyst community, led by Gartner and Forrester, wield massive power and influence over what enterprise buyers are looking for and which vendors they approach for RFQs. In other sectors, consultants, trade bodies and industry groups can be equally important in targeting customers.

In many sectors, trade events and shows continue to be important places to ‘see and be seen’, for deals to be brokered and introductions made.

Finally, to get maximum ROI from your PR and marketing efforts try and generate content and news that can be leveraged across the marketing mix. This is where PR brings unique value to many organizations, by generating bespoke and unique content that will make what you say and do relevant to all of your marketing programs.